Today let's discuss petiole sampling. There are a few different thoughts about them:

1. don't bother doing them

2. do them and let me know, and

3. do them and use them as a tool for me.

I have done petioles for just about thirty years. I believe we have learned to use them as a tool. The results are as good as the sample we take.

This year we used where we soil sampled in specific fields to create a grid map to determine where to petiole sample. We could take out an element of guesswork by seeing on our map where to take our sample.

Early on we focused on Nitrogen. That's fine for knowing how much nitrogen has been applied, but then I'd see low nitrogen on a report. It didn't tell you anything. By asking for all nutrients we could get a better picture and then we could determine why the nitrogen was not showing up on the report. For example, low nitrogen could be caused by low potassium or boron. High magnesium will inhibit phosphorus.

Here are two reports of a chipper field. West is non treated, east treated with BioBomb. The east is looking good, where the west shows the nitrogen has dropped badly and the magnesium is way too high. Knowing this information can help us make a good decision on how to proceed!

let me know what you think!

Hal Reed